This 'story' below is nothing you do not already know or have felt
about your furkids and animals you save and rescue, but it is
written so well (by an unknown author as far as I know), I wanted to
share it with all of you. Being a volunteer pet loss grief
counselor for www.rainbowsbridge.com for a couple of years now, I
know how much this story will mean to and help those (I correspond
with online) in their recent and/or past grief over losing their
precious furbabies. Hopefully it will help to ease the heavy grief
in their hearts and souls.

Please pass this on and share with all those you know will treasure
it.

And......... ...please continue to love your own furkids and be the
voices for those precious defenseless and voiceless animals less
fortunate than our own......... ..

The Journey

When you bring a pet into your life, you begin a journey. A journey
that will bring you more love and devotion than you have ever known,
yet will also test your strength and courage. If you allow, the
journey will teach you many things, about life, about yourself, and
most of all, about love. You will come away changed forever, for one
soul cannot touch another without leaving its mark.

Along the way, you will learn much about savoring life's simple
pleasures -- jumping in leaves, snoozing in the sun, the joys of
puddles, and even the satisfaction of a good scratch behind the
ears. If you spend much time outside, you will be taught how to
truly experience every element, for no rock, leaf, or log will go
unexamined, no rustling bush will be overlooked, and even the very
air will be inhaled, pondered, and noted as being full of valuable
information.

Your pace may be slower, except when heading home to the food dish,
but you will become a better naturalist, having been taught by an
expert in the field. Too many times we hike on automatic pilot, our
goal being to complete the trail rather than enjoy the journey. We
miss the details: the colorful mushrooms on the rotting log, the
honeycomb in the old maple snag, the hawk feather caught on a twig.

Once we walk as a dog does, we discover a whole new world. We stop;
we browse the landscape, we kick over leaves, peek in tree holes,
look up, down, all around. And we learn what any dog knows that
nature has created a marvelously complex world that is full of
surprises, that each cycle of the seasons bring ever changing
wonders, each day an essence all its own, each day a gift from God.

Even from indoors you will find yourself more attuned to the world
around you. You will find yourself watching: summer insects
collecting on a screen; how bizarre they are; how many kinds there
are or noting the flick and flash of fireflies through the dark. You
will stop to observe the swirling dance of windblown leaves, or
sniff the air after a rain. It does not matter that there is no
objective in this; the point is in the doing, in not letting life's
most important details slip by.

You will find yourself doing silly things that your pet-less friends
might not understand: spending thirty minutes in the grocery aisle
looking for the cat food brand your feline must have, buying dog
birthday treats, or driving around the block an extra time because
your pet enjoys the ride. You will roll in the snow, wrestle with
chewier toys, bounce little rubber balls till your eyes cross, and
even run around the house trailing your bathrobe tie with a cat in
hot pursuit, all in the name of love .

Your house will become muddier and hairier. You will wear less dark
clothing and buy more lint rollers. You may find dog biscuits in
your pocket or purse, and feel the need to explain that an old
plastic shopping bag adorns your living room rug because your cat
loves the crinkly sound. You will learn the true measure of love.
The steadfast, undying kind that says, "It doesn't matter where we
are or what we do, or how life treats us as long as we are
together."

Respect this always. It is the most precious gift any living soul
can give another. You will not find it often among the human race.
And you will learn humility. The look in my dog's eyes often made me
feel ashamed. Such joy and love at my presence. She saw not some
flawed human who could be cross and stubborn, moody or rude, but
only her wonderful companion. Or maybe she saw those things and
dismissed them as mere human foibles, not worth considering, and so
chose to love me anyway.

If you pay attention and learn well, when the journey is done, you
will be not just a better person, but the person your pet always
knew you to be. The one they were proud to call beloved friend.

I must caution you that this journey is not without pain. Like all
paths of true love, the pain is part of loving. For as surely as the
sun sets, one day your dear animal companion will follow a trail you
cannot yet go down. And you will have to find the strength and love
to let them go.

A pet's time on earth is far too short, especially for those that
love them. We borrow them, really, just for a while, and during
these brief years they are generous enough to give us all their
love, every inch of their spirit and heart, until one day there is
nothing left. The cat that only yesterday was a kitten is all too
soon old and frail and sleeping in the sun. The young pup of
boundless energy now wakes up stiff and lame, the muzzle gone to
gray.

Deep down we somehow always knew that this journey would end. We
knew that if we gave our hearts they would be broken. But give them
we must for it is all they ask in return. When the time comes, and
the road curves ahead to a place we cannot see, we give one final
gift and let them run on ahead, young and whole once more. "God
speed, good friend," we say, until our journey comes full circle and
our paths cross again.

And bless their souls for sharing their lives with us... and adding
so much to our very existence